Even folks in recovery are not immune to conversations about political correctness.
A bunch of us are in a state training this week, and we’re being encouraged to stop calling ourselves “alcoholics” and “addicts.” Too much stigma attached to those words. So what do we call ourselves?
“A person with substance use disorder.”
Do what? That’s kinda weird, isn’t it? “Substance use disorder.” Sounds like I’m using my substances incorrectly. “No, no, that’s not how you snort cocaine!”
Of course, almost anything can be a substance. Like, say, glue. So does a little kid who smears glue in his sister’s hair “a person with substance use disorder”? I digress.
I’ll concede that the words “addict” and “alcoholic” are loaded. Before I got into recovery, I pictured a dirty guy under a bridge or, say, Kurt Cobain on a bad night.
Or, say, this dude on the left.
I’ll admit that most folks probably don’t probably think of the thousands of people in recovery in Nashville, the miracles, who are living productive, service-oriented lives.
But those labels — “addict” and “alcoholic” — are what most of us were taught to use when we got into recovery. And we feel attached because we feel great affection for that time in our lives when we finally surrendered to doing something different.
Well, let’s ask some fellow folks in recovery about identifying as “a person with substance use disorder.”
“I hate that (expletive) label,” said Jay T., a former Navy pilot from Memphis. “I’m an (expletive) alcoholic. We’ve gotta take responsibility for who we are.”
Thanks for sharing, Jay.
Others share the sentiment, but they might be a little more open minded about what’s behind the suggested change.
“I understand the motivation,” says Drew D., a recovering addict from Newbern, Tenn., with 31 years clean. “But I don’t think it’s an effective strategy.
“For a newcomer, it’s important to keep it simple,” he added.
Ashley D., a recovery addict from Jackson, Tenn., with five years clean, also shuns the new suggested identification.
“Probably because it’s new and I don’t like change,” she explains. “I’m good with being an addict because it made me what I am today.”
And what Ashley is today is a clean, usually happy single mom who has found a career in helping her fellow addicts.
I think Ashley’s onto something here: It’s probably the new part that has many of shying away from identifying as “a person with substance use disorder.” After all, think of what we used to call African-Americans or people with disabilities. Change never comes quickly.
Still, “a person with substance use disorder” is, well, tragically unhip. Thanks so much for all you do, state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. But can we at least come up with something cooler?
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